Year Zero Vol. 1

Year Zero #1-5

by Benjamin Percy, Ramon Rosanas (Contributor), Lee Loughridge (Contributor)

Benjamin Percy (Wolverine) and Ramon Rosanas (Star Age of Resistance) present an epic tale that offers a global look at the Zombie Apocalypse. A Japanese hitman, a Mexican street urchin, an Afghan military aide, a Polar research scientist, a midwestern American survivalist – five survivors of a horrific global epidemic who must draw upon their unique skills and deepest instincts to navigate a world of shambling dead. Year Zero wrestles with the weighty moral and theological questions posed by the pandemic and investigates its cause and possible cure.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Zombies, Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopia

144 pages, Paperback

Published October 20, 2020

About the author

Benjamin Percy is the author of seven novels -- most recently The Sky Vault (William Morrow) -- three short fiction collections, and a book of essays, Thrill Me, that is widely taught in creative writing classrooms. He writes Wolverine, X-Force, and Ghost Rider for Marvel Comics. His fiction and nonfiction have been published in Esquire (where he is a contributing editor), GQ, Time, Men's Journal, Outside, the Wall Street Journal, Tin House, and the Paris Review. His honors include an NEA fellowship, the Whiting Writer's Award, the Plimpton Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, the iHeart Radio Award for Best Scripted Podcast, and inclusion in Best American Short Stories and Best American Comics.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

One year ago a polar scientist unearthed a frozen secret from humanity’s distant past, unwittingly setting off a chain of events that leads to where the story picks up, a year later, when the zombie apocalypse happens. Our cast is: a young orphan in Mexico City; a Japanese hitman; an Afghani woman in Kabul; and an American survivalist in Minnesota. Find out their fates and the fate of the world in Year Zero, Volume 1!

Considering how done to death the zombie apocalypse storyline has been in the last twenty years, Benjamin Percy and Ramon Rosanas’ Year Zero surprisingly wasn’t bad.

It definitely helps that there are at least a couple of storylines here that are interesting to follow: Saga Watanabe, the Yakuza hitman gone rogue and hunting down his former employers, and BJ Hool, the fat, probably-on-the-spectrum Minnesotan survivalist looking for love at the end of the world.

I liked how even the zombie apocalypse doesn’t get in the way of Watanabe’s single-minded vengeance as he kills his way through the hordes to get revenge for the death of his beloved. And I enjoyed Hool’s simple search for love that led him to an unexpected new place in his life.

I’m not sure why Percy kept returning to Sara Lemons, the polar scientist, as she didn’t really have a story. She accidentally started the zombie apocalypse and that’s it - it should’ve been done in one sequence at the start, we didn’t need to keep returning to see exactly how it happened. There’s also not much of a story with Daniel Martinez, the Mexican orphan - he just runs around avoiding zombies and that’s it. Very meh.

Fatemah Shah’s story in Kabul was slightly more interesting but not by much - predictable things happen as people become zombies but they get through most of it fine. Fatemah and her group of abused women came off the most out of all the characters as more like ciphers and their goals were vague - they just want out to… somewhere? - so I wasn’t that engaged in their storyline.

Ramon Rosanas’ art is really beautiful and I liked how Lee Loughridge had a different colour palette for each storyline to make them stand out on the page. Kaare Andrews’ covers are fantastic too - this book has an amazing art team.

I’m not sure what the point of those last pages of each issue were where the cause of a famous point in history - the Black Death, the Great Wall’s construction, Jeebus himself - is revealed to be zombie in origin. I guess it’s just Percy being cute? It didn’t really add anything.

A mix of some compelling and some dull storylines with great art throughout, Year Zero, Volume 1 is a decent zombie horror comic and worth a look if you’re a fan of the genre.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ben Percy bites off more than he can chew in this zombie story or 5 stories actually and that's the problem. Each issue parcels out the story of a scientist in the Antarctic, a street urchin in Mexico City, an assassin in Tokyo, a survivalist in Minnesota and a group of abused women in Afghanistan. There's not enough pages in a 20 page comic to tell these stories at 4 pages in a clip. The whole miniseries is just setup for future miniseries with little story. It's all prologue. A miniseries should tell a story and this does not.

[Mirnes Alispahić · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zombies are one of the topics that has been overused over the years to the point that only occasionally there is a glimpse of brilliance in the zombie storytelling. This graphic novel is one of those glimpses, or should I say, a flawed gem in a basket full of coal.
Just as World War Z, Year Zero follows several characters in a different parts of the globe as world becomes lost in the zombie apocalypse. However, as usual, storytelling from multiple angles is a tricky thing and it can be hit and miss. Such is the case with this graphic novel. While opening story tells of origin of the end of the world, it really doesn't contribute further as it progress. It should've been closed at the beginning, leaving more room for other stories to develop.
Story of Fatema Shah, Afghani woman who leads group of women, escapees from husbands and fathers, survivors of violence, now become survivors of a different enemy. While it's interesting, there is something missing.
Daniel, street urchin on streets of Mexico City, had a potential, but it's underdeveloped. Slightly predictable, yet satisfying.
Story of Saga, yakuza hitman who stays cold about apocalypse around him as he goes on a quest to revenge his lover looks like a John Wick with zombies. Quite good story. Probably the best in this volume.
BJ is a doomsday prepper, a cliché character who looks for a love as the world is dying is an interesting story, although a bit predictable after his conversation on the radio. Still, not bad story overall.
Dilemmas and inner monologues of the characters, along with the art, makes this graphic novel worthwhile read.

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm down for this zombie apocalypse series! 3.45 🌟

[Subham · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those books that just highlights my problem with Percy Books, they start off great and has great points and ideas and all but then towards the end the plot meanders to god knows where and the conclusions are wayward, indefinitive and well confusing.

This book is about a zombie apocalypse that breaks out and we get five different view points. A scientist in Polar region who might have been the cause of this outbreak with the virus. A boy in mexico trying to survive who believes in god but has to work for cartels and all which was a bit weird. A nerd who predicted this virus and how in act of desperation he might have found a friend when all his life he was alone, which was okayish. There is the japanese assassin who lost someone and by the end finds peace with himself? And women in Afghanistan who find solace and unity together when all their life they have suffered.

Its one of those things where there are different viewpoints and keeps you hooked and the start is great and most stories just tells how the zombie outbreak started and how people surviving in it and some stories feel inconsequential and confusing while there is also a history lesson which says this outbreak may have been there since ancient days and the Vitruvian man is a representation of it? That part went over my head and was boring.

For the most part this story is good and can make for a fun one time snack read and the art is decent.

[Buddy Scalera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wait, where's the actual story?

This was truly disappointing. I loved the first issue, so I asked my local comic shop to get me the whole 5-issue mini series. I grabbed me immediately and I wanted to see the zombie apocalypse from the multiple locations and POVs. Great start.

"Year Zero" was listed as a 5-issue series, but upon the final issue, I discovered this was just the first arc of a larger story. This would be fine if the 5 issues told a cohesive story, but it did not. It merely put the characters in place to start telling a story.

So...there was no story. Just world building and character setup.

It took 5 issues to set up the next story arc. It had a bunch of characters (some that were very interesting, to be sure) and basically got them ready for the story. At $3.99 per issue, it's a lot of money for a setup that should have been completed in Issue #1.

Was the art good? Yes, it was. Was the writing good? In places, yes, but it felt a bit uneven.

Would I buy the next story arc? Doubtful. If they guaranteed an actual story, it might be worth checking out. But in the meantime, I'll wait to see how the rest of you review it.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first AwA book and damn, Percy knocked it out the park.

So remember world war z? Not the movie but the book. This is very similar. Take a bunch of different characters and give their prospective of the zombie outbreak.But that's not a brand new idea, we've seen that before. But this book does it where each two pages we switch to the other protagonist in this series. So this gives Percy a job to get me invested in characters in basically 4 pages per issue. Not easy, huh?

But somehow he makes it work.

We have the first few pages opening with how the virus began, or where it came from. A scientist explaining she was trying to get away from civilization but instead might have caused the end of it by finding a body in the ice. Of course this body leads to the first outbreak. We then get to know 4 very different stories. One about a boy trying to survive in the streets of Mexico while also getting his revenge from his parents being killed. An assassin losing someone close to him and trying to find peace. Another about woman who were abused and treated like shit their whole life not fighting back. And last but not least a crazy conspiracy theory guy who knew the zombie outbreak would be coming and prepared himself.

I believe almost all the stories are interesting. For me the least interesting if I'm being honest is the boy in Mexico. I just don't find him as compelling. And while I love the start of the woman in Afghanistan, I'm not sure where it's going. The assassin's story is fast paced and fun, the scientist is filled with dread, and then the best is the overweight conspiracy guy who just makes you laugh.

I'm excited to dive deeper into this world, this is a great first volume.

[Brina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obwohl man eigentlich meinen könnte, dass man bereits alles über Zombies gelesen oder auch gesehen hat, gibt es immer noch einen großen Hype um die wandelnden Toten, was zahlreiche neue Reihen mit sich bringt. So auch die "Year Zero"-Graphic Novels von Benjamin Percy, in der es im ersten Band um die Anfänge der Zombieausbrüche geht.

Auf insgesamt knapp 140 Seiten lernt man dabei das Leben von gleich fünf Personen kennen, die unterschiedlicher nicht sein können und unter verschiedenen Bedingungen leben: Ein Auftragskiller in Japan, der aus der Szene aussteigen möchte, ein Waisenkind aus Mexiko, das auf der Straße lebt, eine Polarforscherin, ein Prepper aus den Vereinigten Staaten und eine Militärhelferin aus Afghanistan. Ihre einzige Gemeinsamket ist, dass sie die Apokalypse bislang überlebt haben. Dabei gehen die ungleichen Personen sehr unterschiedlich mit der neuen Situation um. Während sich einige lediglich verstecken und auf Hilfe hoffen, gehen andere dagegen zum Angriff über, um sich und andere zu schützen. Dabei stehen Mut, Hoffnung, Angst und Moral im Vordergrund, aber auch die Frage nach Recht und Unrecht, sodass man sich auch als Leser*in fragen muss, wie man sich in so einer Apokalypse verhalten würde.

An sich klingt das auf den ersten Blick wirklich gut und man kommt auch gut in die Geschichte hinein, allerdings bleibt alles insgesamt sehr oberflächlich, sodass ich die Figuren nur sehr wenig kennen lernen durfte und somit auch ihr Schicksal für mich nicht wirklich greifbar war, sodass alles insgesamt eher oberflächlich bleibt. Dies ist sehr schade, denn man hätte aus der Geschichte, die ingesamt sehr gut und detailliert gezeichnet ist, so viel mehr herausholen können, um mehr Sympathie oder Anteilnahme den Figuren gegenüber zu entwickeln.

Somit ist "Year Zero" zwar insgesamt ein netter Auftakt, der insgesamt mit ausdrucksstarken Zeichnungen daher kommt, allerdings muss sich die Reihe noch deutlich steigern, um dauerhaft mein Interesse wecken zu können.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. So if you haven’t guessed already, this is another zombie apocalypse story. However, instead of the typical, follow the main characters through this situation, Percy takes a new approach. I always applaud writers for trying something new. Here, we follow 5 different individuals as they deal with what’s happening around the globe. One is a research team in the Arctic taking ice core samples. They seemed to be the ones to unleash this on the world. Two, we have a young boy, Daniel in Mexico. He is a poor homeless kid that’s used to moving around unnoticed. Now he really has to put that skill to use. Three, we have BJ, a doomsday prepper who tried to tell everyone this day would come. So now he’s hunkered down in his shelter. Four, we have an assassin on a job that is going to be his last mission. Five, we have a group a women refugees in Afghanistan trying to flee the country. Percy then adds more to the mix. Not only are all these people dealing with the zombies, they all also have things that they are trying to get done outside of that. Not much talking here as the majority of this was written in a narrator style. Pretty solid. Good enough that I’ll check out the next volume after this starts back up in November.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Year Zero is basically WWZ in graphic novel form!

Five stories run parallel to one another to represent a microcosm of a global zombie epidemic- Sara is a polar research scientist who is the one who inadvertently finds the first zombie frozen in time, Daniel is a young orphan from Mexico City, Saga is a paid assassin in Tokyo, Fetemah is an army informant in Kabul and BJ is a doomsday prepper in Minnesota. These five individuals, deal with the sudden fallout when they become the few who have survived the apocalypse. We are only given a few pages of each person's story before it shifts elsewhere, so the story doesn't advance much in this first volume beyond them all surviving the first onslaught. But the artist and colorist did an excellent job in capturing each personality and the region they are from. In addition, there was a different color scheme for each of the five, which helped differentiate them.

I first picked up this graphic novel because I am a sucker for zombie stories, and I had been a big fan of The Walking Dead. But I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed the author, Benjamin Percy, as I was first introduced to him through two Wolverine podcasts and later a horror short story collection, Suicide Woods, of his. With this entry, I will continue to seek out his work!

[Guilherme Hosken Barbosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

É uma ótima história de zumbis. A narrativa foca em cinco personagens em diferentes partes do mundo e suas perspectivas acerca de como encararam o começo da pandemia zumbi (o tal ano zero).
A narrativa é fragmentada, as histórias de cada personagem são intercaladas (umas 3 a 4 páginas de história de cada personagem por edição) e isso aumenta a tensão e a curiosidade sobre o que esses personagens vão enfrentar. Os personagens são bem construídos e a arte é bem dinâmica, as cenas de ação são muito boas. A narrativa é bem ágil e a leitura flui muito bem.
O único porém, ao menos pra mim, é que essa edição encadernada da editora Skript (por sinal, a edição está muito bem feita), me foi vendida como uma história fechada com a possibilidade de uma expansão, caso os autores desejassem contar mais coisa, mas isso não acontece. O final da história é apenas o começo de uma história muito maior, e pede continuação (termina num grande cliffhanger).
Mas a história é boa? É ótima, só que ela ainda não acabou.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. Shades of World War Z, Percy's story concerns the downfall of humanity due to a zombie virus, told from the points of view of 5 very different characters in different locations around the world. There's a climate researcher in the Arctic. A Yakuza hitman in Japan. A young street kid in Mexico. A group of women in Afghanistan. And a nerdy doomsday prepper in good ol' Burnsville, MN (just down the street...). The story is told in 2 or 3 page increments before switching to another character, which I can imagine would be frustrating for some, but worked for me. The artwork is very strong throughout. Plus, there are little historical vignettes suggesting that maybe there was more to the Black Death or the real reason behind the Great Wall of China. I'll be looking for volume two...

[kesseljunkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solidly Engrossing & Great Art

The clean line work helps emphasize the focused, disciplined storytelling here. Highly recommend the title for anyone trying to find an "in" with comics who doesn't want to follow superheroes or franchise obligations.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primeira vez que leio um quadrinho da editora AWA, que tem o ex-editor da Vertigo e Marvel MAX Axel Alonso como cabeça. Ano Zero, trazido ao Brasil pela Skript, escrito por Benjamin Percy (Wolverine, Arqueiro Verde) e desenhado por Ramon Rosanas (Homem-Formiga), não deve nada para vários quadrinhos das duas linhas que Alonso encabeçou previamente. A história acompanha cinco pessoas durante a erupção de um vírus que torna humanos em zumbis. Fora o bad timing de usar uma pandemia como mote da trama, gostei muito do que li. A história corre em paralelo apresentando enredos diferentes para essas qustro pessoas: um garotinho no México, um nerd de bunker nos Estados Unidos, uma professora no Afeganistão e um homem com uma espada no Japão. É possível se conectar com a história de todos, menos com a do homem com a espada no Japão, na minha humilde opinião. Além disso, a trama não acaba neste volume, pelo que entendi pesquisando sites gringos, vem um segundo volume com outro desenhista na continuação. Espero que venha para o Brasil para que possamos acompanhar o desfecho da história.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

The virus that causes a sort of zombie outbreak has been done before. The most recent, and effective, being Crossed in comics and The Last Of Us on television. One could say it's become a cliche or simply a genre with its own set of rules and constraints.

As we sit here on the other side of a global pandemic, it rates another look as a contemporary event. The dust hasn't settled enough for us here in 2024 to objectively look at works like red scare or nuclear anxiety yielded in the 50s and 60s. The 2020s will likely spawn its own works which will become synonymous with this era. Virus anxiety, if you will.

This is where Year Zero comes in. A fresh look at a well worn road. The pandemic gave us all an opportunity to look at ourselves and to make it easy to insert ourselves into a what if, end of the world scenario.

S P O I L E R S here on out. The virus has always been here. So how has it flared up and seemingly vanished? A frozen caveman. The wild west. Da Vinci. Jesus Christ. How and why does it pop up over and over and then vanish?

[Yani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did the right thing reading the prequel before this... because, in all regards, this first volume is so much better than the prequel. And not to be rude, but I don't know that the prequel actually adds anything.

But, taking this as it's own entity...

I love that this isn't a "oh, this one thing happened right now and we have zombies"... no, this is "we've ALWAYS had zombies, it just got out of control this time". The 2020 pandemic vibes are strong here, honestly, and given that this was published in October of 2020, that's definitely informing the narrative. I imagine the second volume will be even more so.

And all the characters are amazing... even the ones I don't care for... well, one, really... Bob, the incel.

I'm fascinated to see where this all goes.

I love the art also... and the choice to give each location a slightly different colour tint, so you pretty much know where you are as soon as you change locations.

It's a solid entry in the zombie genre.

[Ernie Pelletier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zombie apocalypse graphic novel. This book sets up the world of a zombie apocalypse with several stories featuring people from around the world. There is also a story set a year ago detailing the outbreak, and famous past events that may or may not be connected. There has obviously been some car taken in world building. While this book seems to be set up for more stories (and volume 2 is on the way), each character is given a satisfying arc to establish their place in this world. A fun read!

[47Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the best things done by the story is comparing the zombie outbreak with historical events. The Vitruvian Man was a zombie, the Black Death featured zombies.

All is normal in the world for five different individuals from all walks of life. Then the zombie apocalypse begins. They try to survive in their own way. Some try to hide, others face the dangers head on. The five stories never intersect and don't go anywhere. Waste of time.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I love zombie stories! I was captured by each of the different stories in here, but they seemed to end too suddenly. I know there is a volume 2 in this series, so I’m definitely interested in seeing where this will go. This volume established this world well, but the execution in the following volumes need to pick up and bear a bit more substance to them.

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was kinda over zombies for a good minute there (with a few exceptions). But I’ve recently been getting back into the genre, which is good because this comic freakin rocks. Told from five different points of view, with cool little historical bits showing zombies over the centuries as well. Very entertaining and I can’t wait to read Volume 2.

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Walking Dead, Book One was interesting because it asked the question: What happens after the zombie movie ends? Months later, years later, a generation later. It was an inconsistent series but it posed interesting scenarios and really delved into the characters as the zombie apocalypse went from a crisis, to a new reality, to routine, to all people could remember.

Year Zero asks, what if a whole comic series was just the first two scenes of a zombie movie played over and over and over. You are constantly introduced and reintroduced to the same core characters as they come to terms with the zombie apocalypse, and then again as they ... come to terms with the zombie apocalypse, and then again as they ... come to ... typing this is almost as boring as reading this was.

If this whole volume had been packed into a single issue of a book that then went somewhere interesting, it could have been a four or five star book. Unfortunately, this book doesn't really go anywhere. It's a character study where the characters have interesting backgrounds that they never shed or evolve from. By the third issues, I had to start skipping around because I just didn't care about anything that was ... I don't want to say happening because very little actually happens, so ... anything that was being written about.

The idea of showing a zombie apocalypse from the perspective of all these different characters sounds awesome on paper. It's a shame that this writer chose not to really say anything interesting with them.

Apart from die-hard zombie enthusiasts, I don't know who to recommend this for.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In and of itself there isn’t anything super special or unique to make Percy’s Year Zero really stand out from the plethora of other zombie stories out there.
Like almost every other zombie related work of fiction, it’s packed full of the tropes this genre is known for.

Where this does excel however is its original approach to the whole thing, taking vignettes of 5 different survivors and spreading their stories throughout 5 issues. From a research assistant in Antarctica who accidentally sets the undead apocalypse upon the world to a modern day samurai, each issue jumps back and forth between the characters in an interesting way, adding a bit more depth and backstory to them. It takes a bit of getting used to as this goes the non-linear storytelling route, but it is worth it by the time we get to finale in this first collection.

Furthermore, the art seems basic at first, yet grows on you with some cool angles and interesting shadows and color choices. With the advent of CGI generated art that’s looking increasingly more plain and boring, it’s nice to see Ramon Rosanas try to make his art look a little more old school.

[William M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ensemble cast of equal focus, this original zombie story is really multiple stories following characters from around the globe, following a boy in Mexico City, A Tokyo hitman, a survivalist in Minnesota, a female civilian in Afghanistan, and a scientist at a polar research station in the Arctic. Author Benjamin Percy keeps the action moving, constantly switching back and forth to each story, leaving you hanging on exciting mini-climaxes. While I would have preferred this to be even longer, this zombie fix was just what I needed. My only complaint was a few predictable moments and the fairly average artwork by Ramon Rosanas. Definitely recommended for horror, action, and zombie fans. Looking forward to the next volume in this ongoing series of vignettes.

[Robert Sidney · Rating 4 out of 5]

good. lots of skipping around.

I enjoyed this, but found all the skipping around a bit rough. Every few pages transitions between characters, so you keep reading to find out the next part of that story. None of the stories are so deep that you can’t follow it in that format, but I wonder if the stories could have gone deeper if it were a bit more focused. It’s kind of like Max Brooks’ World War Z novel as a comic.

[Matty Dub · Rating 4 out of 5]

Year Zero follows 5 people or groups of people as they navigate an extinction level event.

This was a fresh take on zombies, if such a thing can be and by writing from multiple perspectives Percy creates something brimming with potential for future arcs.

The line and colour art are great also.

[A.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Benjamin Percy writing a comic that starts off insanely strong, but then meanders towards a nothing conclusion while building a semi interesting world to just set a bunch of sequels that will probably go the same exact route? Yeah nothing new here.

[Wesley Verhoeve · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was actually a rather enjoyable read but then then ending was sudden and a let down

[Igor Veloso · Rating 2 out of 5]

Liked a couple storylines, others were bland and way too predictable. By the end I did not enjoy where it went with the whole concept. Got to admit I was quite disappointed.

[Michael J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

After so many years, I still enjoy the occasional zombie movie, television show, book, or comic. They serve as entertaining escapism. Not many stories scare me anymore, especially after I was permanently scarred by viewing George Romero’s classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD at the tender age of seventeen.
Today, even that fails to frighten after so much zombie exposure. I also wasn’t frightened by Benjamin Percy’s YEAR ZERO. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to dip their toe into zombie waters but is hesitant to do so.

I’d call this a noble experiment. Percy wanted to stray from the conventional zombie story that focuses on a single setting and/or group of individuals. Percy paints a portrait of a zombie apocalypse on a huger canvas, across a global scale. The story jump-cuts from location to location and follows one character in each setting as they try to stay alive - - - from a polar research station that may be the origin of the virus to Mexico City to Kabul to Burnsville, Minnesota to Tokyo.

My favorite individuals are young Daniel Martinez in Mexico who partners with the same cartel that murdered his parents (with revenge on his mind) and B.J. Hool in Minnesota, an overweight pop culture geek who saw the writing on the wall and secured himself within a safe bunker (but he may regret giving in to his lonely impulses).  Zombies, of course, play an important role in each of the individual scenarios with one exception. In the tale of Saga Watanabe, the Yakuza assassin/hitman they serve as window dressing and are not essential to his story.

The same device that makes this saga stand apart from all other zombie fare is what makes it seem a slow read, and less frightening. Each issue focused on all five individuals, detailing just three or four pages of their story at a time. The constant start/stop of these vignettes served to pull readers out of the story instead of engaging their interest.

However, there is conflict and resolution in each of these stories, although perhaps not as final as some would prefer. But I’m used to zombie tales that end with temporary survival and leave things open, as YEAR ZERO does. Volume Two is grinding out right now.


With a five-issue mini-series to work with and five characters, Percy could just have easily told this as five one-shots, focusing on the full story of just one character per issue. I think YEAR ZERO would have more impact that way.

Still, these characters are interesting and the global setting is a welcome change. I don’t regret reading this, and I plan to follow the next series. I’d recommend picking this up in trade paperback as the best way to read the series, perhaps at one sitting. I read them in the individual issues, with a month between readings, which may have affected my impressions. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS out of a possible FIVE STARS.

P.S. My favorite cover is Issue #5, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with any of the five individual stories.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wenn jemand einen Comic über einen Japaner, eine Afghanin, einen Mexikaner, eine Britin und einen Amerikaner schreibt, dann klingt das - in meinen Ohren - erstmal nach einem Overload an gut gemeinter Vielfalt. In den meisten Fällen, in denen derart unterschiedliche Charaktere die Bühne betreten, geht es mehr darum, dass das Scheinwerferlicht auf den Figuren bleibt, anstatt sie zu Werkzeugen einer größeren Erzählung werden zu lassen. In diesem Comic ist das anders.

Zunächst: Der wilde Mix funktioniert. In erster Linie, weil die Figuren (noch?) voneinander getrennt ihre eigenen Geschichten erzählen. Auf diese Weise werden sie in ihrer "natürlichen" Umgebung gezeigt; inmitten von Unerträglichem. Egal, ob es sich dabei um das Dasein als japanischer Auftragskiller handelt oder um die Ständige Bedrohung für Leib und Leben, wie sie afghanische Frauen durchmachen.

Und als wären diese Existenzen nicht schon furchtbar genug, stürzen sie direkt in eine Zombie-Apokalypse. Jedes Setting, so einzigartig und scharf von den anderen abgrenzbar es auch sein mag, für sich und gemeinsam mit den anderen. Viele Kilometer trennen die Protagonisten; die Entfernung und das Einzig- oder Andersartige in den Paneelen durch Farbe ausgedrückt; sehen die Zombies nämlich allerorten gleich aus.

Andererseits: Jede Figur macht etwas anderes aus der Apokalypse, reagiert auf ureigene Weise. Bei manchen wirkt das realistischer als bei anderen - aber die Grenze zum Absurden wird zu keinem Zeitpunkt überschritten.

Apokalypsen sind ein Ort des Grauens und der Hoffnung für diejenigen unter uns, die sie gerne lesen. Einerseits furchtbar bieten sie dann doch immer die Chance auf einen Neuanfang. Ich bin gespannt darauf zu sehen, ob (und welche) Charaktere ihn erleben werden. Bisher wünscht man es noch allen.

Schade, dass es bis zum nächsten Teil sicher noch ewig dauert.